Mitt Romney took his first poll lead in the battleground state of Ohio yesterday, while several national surveys showed him in a virtual tie with President Obama.
Romney pulled ahead of Obama, 50 percent to 48 percent, in the Buckeye State, according to Rasmussen’s tracking survey released yesterday. Last week, the same pollster had the two tied at 48 percent after Obama consistently led in previous surveys.
“This is the first time Romney has taken even a modest lead in the [Ohio] race,” said pollster Scott Rasmussen.
But the results are within the survey’s 4-percentage-point margin of error, meaning the race is too close to call.
The Real Clear Politics average of all recent polls in Ohio show Obama up by a razor thin lead, 48.6 percent to 46.7 percent.
No Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio’s 18 electoral votes.
Several national polls show a dead heat.
It was Obama, 49 percent to 48 percent, in the Politico-George Washington University survey. Obama picked up three points in this poll from last week and appeared to win back female voters.
The Washington Post-ABC poll had Romney over Obama, 49 percent to 48 percent, while Ramussen’s national tracking survey had Romney ahead, 49 percent to 47 percent.
Pew Research had the race tied at 47 percent, but noted that Republican-leaning voters were more motivated to vote.
Gallup’s national tracking poll continued to show the biggest spread — with Romney holding a lead of 51 percent to 45 percent.